The Yanks

30 November 2006 by John Talbott    363  
The Yanks
The Yanks are Coming, the Yanks… Well, of course I’m exaggerating. But the opening of Spring a few weeks ago by chef Daniel Rose, who is a one-man band, doing everything from taking reservations to ushering you out the door, prompted me to reflect on the influence of the Anglos on the French.  Now granted, most of us, well let me speak for myself, I, think mainly of the French influence on American cuisine – from Escoffier to Julia Child to Alain Ducasse.  And when I think of Americans influencing French cuisine, it’s largely the introduction of American products, from corn and tobacco to phylloxera-free vines to Texas grapefruit.  But think back.  Who was it who caused national shame throughout the hexagon by putting up California wines against the best of the French – Steven Spurrier (no, not the US football coach – the Brit wine merchant)?  And for at least 30 years, Irish bars have been wildly popular in Paris (indeed, I have my “dinner,” well, admittedly liquid, at one between acts at the Opera Bastille). So why shouldn’t Americans and other Anglo-Saxons establish themselves here? Lord knows, the Viet-Namese, Italians, Chinese, Thais, Japanese and Indian-subcontinent-ese have no problem.   A few years ago, I was snobby (read snotty) enough to think that only the French had French cuisine in their blood, and thus only the French could “do” French food.  I think Julia began to change that opinion and Anthony Bourdain, of Les Halles fame, who while he chose to cook French cuts of meat, insisted that his best sous-chefs were not French but South Americans, convinced me.  I recall a female chef, who worked in William Ledeuil’s kitchen at Ze Kitchen Galerie and who it was clear that (1) he trusted and (2) would go back to the US and A, as Borat would say, who executed his dishes to perfection.  And those of us who pay attention, perhaps too obsessively, to the Web food sites, know how hard people like Louisa Chu work to succeed in mastering the art of French cooking. About ten years ago, Eric Frechon decamped from his eponymous resto to the Bristol and Mark Singer, a Yank, took over, changing the name (to La Cave Gourmande), theme, décor and some of the menu, but retaining its prime feature – serving first class food in an out of the way neighborhood.  About the same time, Chris Wright, a Mancunian (I kid thee not, that’s someone from Manchester, England, England as the Beatles would say), opened Le Timbre in the 6th and despite the lack of raving on the part of the French food critics, Patricia Well, bless her, gave it a great review and Anglos doing French stuff began to be taken seriously.  Sometime afterwards, we saw the appearance of those from down-under, in addition to the rugby-bars, with Fish La Buisonnerie which serves up pretty decent food that even a food nut like Francois Simon, likes.  And then there was the Brit-inspired Rose Bakery, coming into Montmartre, of all food dessert, no pun intended, places. And then, wouldn’t you know, also on/in Montmartre, Arthur Jordan, ex of NYC and Chicago opened La Cave Café at 134 rue Marcadet just about a year ago.  I ate there with an on-and-off but life-long friend who’s lived here since college and even she, jaded Franco-American that she is, was impressed (although the truth be told, it was mainly by the prices, that I thought for the nabe were quite reasonable). So why shouldn’t an American-in-Paris, Daniel Rose, open a resto – Spring – on the downside of the Mount?  It’s a quite different deal than you might expect in the 9th.  If you haven’t been by Pigalle lately, don’t come to Spring via that Metro station at night.  Oh, it’s not dangerous, but it’s kinda pathetic.  Instead, come up from St Georges and enter his small “studio,” as one food critic called it. You quickly see that there are only sixteen covers and Rose is up on a cooking platform on top of the room.  He offers a terrific 36 € 4-course set menu every evening but Sunday and has been visited (and very positively reviewed so far) by Figaroscope, Le Fooding, Michelin and Lebey.  The night we went, we had an amuse gueule of rillettes, four kinds of bread, a carrot soup with jarré of veal, sushi-quality salmon, perfectly cooked caramelized-on-the-outside rare-on-the-inside pigeon and a chocolate cake – that were all top-notch. By the way, as a colleague pointed out, there have been other American imitations or invasions, probably the oldest being the two American-themed bars – Harry’s American and Joe Allen’s, and including the tourist themed chain restos, the Hard Rock Café and Planet Hollywood, as well as most recently, McDo’s and Starbucks, but I choose to ignore them. Instead my favorites from the above are: Spring 28, rue de la Tour d’Auvergne, 9th, (Metro: St Georges or Pigalle) T: 01.45.96.05.72 Open for dinner everyday but Sunday Menu du jour 36 € Le Timbre 3, rue Sainte Beuve, 6th, (Metro: Sevres-Babylone) T: 01.45.49.10.40 Closed Saturdays for lunch, and on Sundays. …
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By John Talbott